William Smith (lexicographer)
Sir William Smith was an English lexicographer. He made advances in the teaching of Greek and Latin in schools. Smith was born in Enfield in 1813 of Nonconformist parents, he attended the Madras House school of John Allen in Hackney. Destined for a theological career, he instead was articled to a solicitor. In his spare time he taught himself classics, when he entered University College London he carried off both the Greek and Latin prizes, he was entered at Gray's Inn in 1830, but gave up his legal studies for a post at University College School and began to write on classical subjects. Smith next turned his attention to lexicography, his first attempt was A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, which appeared in 1842, the greater part being written by him. Followed the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology in 1849. A parallel Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography appeared in 1857, with some leading scholars of the day associated with the task. In 1867, he became editor of a post he held until his death.
Meanwhile, he published the first of several school dictionaries in 1850, in 1853 he began the Principia series, which marked an advance in the school teaching of Greek and Latin. Came the Student's Manuals of History and Literature, of which the English literature volume went into 13 editions, he himself wrote the Greek history volume. He was joined in the venture by the publisher John Murray when the original publishing partner met difficulties. Murray was the publisher of the 1214-page Latin–English Dictionary based upon the works of Forcellini and Freund that Smith completed in 1855; this was periodically reissued over the next thirty-five years. It goes beyond "classical" Latin to include many entries not found in other dictionaries of the period, including Lewis and Short; the most important of the books Smith edited were those that dealt with ecclesiastical subjects. These were the Dictionary of the Bible; the Atlas, on which Sir George Grove collaborated, appeared in 1875. From 1853 to 1869 Smith was classical examiner to the University of London, on his retirement he became a member of the Senate.
He sat on the Committee to inquire into questions of copyright, was for several years registrar of the Royal Literary Fund. He edited Gibbon, with Guizot's and Milman's notes, in 1854–1855. Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology Smith was created a DCL by Oxford and Dublin, the honour of a knighthood was conferred on him in 1892, he died on 7 October 1893 in London. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Smith, Sir William". Encyclopædia Britannica. 25. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 270–271. Works by William Smith at Project Gutenberg Works by or about William Smith at Internet Archive "Smith, Sir William". A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. 1910 – via Wikisource. A Short History of Ancient Greece with notes, study links and illustration by Elpenor Online facsimile version of Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology Online facsimile version of Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities
Ionian Islands
The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e. "the Seven Islands", but the group includes many smaller islands as well as the seven principal ones. As a distinct historic region they date to the centuries-long Venetian rule, which preserved them from becoming part of the Ottoman Empire, created a distinct cultural identity with many Italian influences; the Ionian Islands became part of the modern Greek state in 1864. Administratively today they belong to the Ionian Islands Region except for Kythera, which belongs to the Attica Region; the seven islands are. The seventh island, Kythira, is off the southern tip of the Peloponnese, the southern part of the Greek mainland. Kythira is not part of the region of the Ionian Islands. In Ancient Greek the adjective Ionios was used as an epithet for the sea between Epirus and Italy in which the Ionian Islands are found because Io swam across it. Latin transliteration, as well as Modern Greek pronunciation, may suggest that the Ionian Sea and Islands are somehow related to Ionia, an Anatolian region.
In Modern Greek omicron and omega represent the same sound, but the two words are still distinguished by stress: the western "Ionia" is accented on the antepenult, the eastern on the penult. In English, the adjective relating to Ionia is Ionic, not Ionian; the islands themselves are known by a rather confusing variety of names. During the centuries of rule by Venice, they acquired Venetian names, by which some of them are still known in English. Kerkyra was known as Corfù, Ithaki as Val di Compare, Kythera as Cerigo, Lefkada as Santa Maura and Zakynthos as Zante. A variety of spellings are used for the Greek names of the islands in historical writing. Kefallonia is spelled as Cephallenia or Cephalonia, Ithaki as Ithaca, Kerkyra as Corcyra, Kythera as Cythera, Lefkada as Leucas or Leucada and Zakynthos as Zacynthus or Zante. Older or variant Greek forms are sometimes used: Kefallinia for Kefallonia and Paxos or Paxoi for Paxi; the islands were settled by Greeks at an early date as early as 1200 BC, by the 9th century BC.
The early Eretrian settlement at Kerkyra was displaced by colonists from Corinth in 734 BC. The islands were a backwater during Ancient Greek times and played little part in Greek politics; the one exception was the conflict between Kerkyra and its mother-City Corinth in 434 BC, which brought intervention from Athens and triggered the Peloponnesian War. Ithaca was the name of the island home of Odysseus in the epic Ancient Greek poem the Odyssey by Homer. Attempts have been made to identify Ithaki with ancient Ithaca, but the geography of the real island cannot be made to fit Homer's description. Archeological investigations have revealed interesting findings in both Ithaca. By the 4th century BC, most of the islands were absorbed into the empire of Macedon; some remained under the control of the Macedonian Kingdom until 146 BC, when the Greek peninsula was annexed by Rome. After 400 years of peaceful Roman rule, the islands passed to the Eastern Byzantine Empire. Under Byzantine rule, from the mid-8th century, they formed the theme of Cephallenia.
The islands were a frequent target of Saracen raids and from the late 11th century, saw a number of Norman and Italian attacks. Most of the islands fell to William II of Sicily in 1185. Corfu and Lefkas remained under Byzantine control. Kefallonia and Zakynthos became the County palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos until 1357, when this entity was merged with Lefkada and Ithaki to become the Duchy of Leucadia under French and Italian dukes. Corfu and Kythera were taken by the Venetians in 1204, after the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire by the Fourth Crusade; these became important overseas colonies of the Republic and were used as way-stations for their maritime trade with the Levant. From 1204, the Republic of Venice controlled Corfu and all the Ionian islands fell under Venetian rule. In the 15th century, the Ottomans conquered most of Greece, but their attempts to conquer the islands were unsuccessful. Zakynthos passed permanently to Venice in 1482, Kefallonia and Ithaki in 1483, Lefkada in 1502.
Kythera had been in Venetian hands since 1238. The islands thus became the only part of the Greek-speaking world to escape Ottoman rule, which gave them both a unity and an importance in Greek history they would otherwise not have had. Corfu was the only Greek island never conquered by the Turks. Under Venetian rule, many of the upper classes spoke Italian and converted to Roman Catholicism, but the majority remained Greek ethnically and religiously. In the 18th century, a Greek national independence movement began to emerge, the free status of the Ion
Regional units of Greece
The 74 regional units are administrative units of Greece. They are subdivisions of the country's 13 regions, further subdivided into municipalities, they were introduced as part of the "Kallikratis" administrative reform on 1 January 2011 and are comparable in area and, in the mainland, coterminous with the pre-"Kallikratis" prefectures of Greece
Kythira
Kythira is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, although it is distant from the main group. Administratively, it belongs to the Islands regional unit, part of the Attica region; the island is strategically located between the Greek mainland and Crete, from ancient times until the mid 19th century was a crossroads of merchants and conquerors. As such, it has had a long and varied history and has been influenced by many civilisations and cultures; this is reflected in its architecture, as well as the traditions and customs, influenced by centuries of coexistence of the Greek and Ottoman cultures. Kythira and the nearby island of Antikythira were separate municipalities until they were merged at the 2011 local government reform; the municipality has an area of 300.023 km2, the municipal unit 279.593 km2. The province of Kythira was one of the provinces of the Piraeus Prefecture, it had the same territory as the present municipality Kythira.
It was abolished in 2006. There are archaeological remains from contemporary with the Minoans. There is archaeological evidence of Kythiran trade as far as Mesopotamia. Kythira had a Phoenician colony in the early archaic age. Xenophon refers to a Phoenician Bay in Kythira; the archaic Greek city of Kythira was at Scandea on Avlemonas. Its acropolis, now Palicastro, has the temple of Aphrodite Ourania, who may well represent a Phoenician cult of Astarte. In classical times, Kythira was part of the territory of several larger city-states. Sparta took the island from Argos early in the sixth century, ruled it under a kytherodíkes, in Thucydides' time. Kythira was independent, issued her own coins in 195 after the Achaean defeat of Sparta. In Augustus' time, it was again subject to Sparta, being the property of Gaius Julius Eurycles, both a Spartan magnate and a Roman citizen. By this time, the Greek cities were in practice subject to the Roman Empire. Kythira continued to exist under its Byzantine successor state for centuries.
Christianity is attested from the time of Constantine. Kythira is not mentioned in the literary sources for centuries after its conversion. Archaeological evidence suggests the island was abandoned about 700 AD; when Saint Theodore of Cythera led a resettlement after the Byzantine reconquest of Crete in 962, he found the island occupied only by wandering bands of hunters. He established a great monastery at Paliochora; when the Byzantine Empire was divided among the conquerors of the Fourth Crusade, the Republic of Venice took her share, three eighths of the whole, as the Greek islands, Kythira among them. She established a coast patrol on Kythira and Antikythera to protect her trade route to Constantinople. During the Venetian domination the island was known as Cerigo. Kythirans still talk about the looting of Paliochora by Barbarossa. One can accept the stories of locals by noticing the number of monasteries embedded in the rocky hillsides to avoid destruction by the pirates. Barbary pirates ranged across the Mediterranean waters, raiding ships and islands, taking booty and slaves for the Barbary slave trade.
Kythira was at the mercy of Barbary pirates due to its strategic location in the Mediterrean. In order to intercept merchant vessels, islands along the trade routes were of course more interesting for pirates. In the 17th century the small islands like Sapientza south of Messinia, Cergio south of the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese, along the coast of Asia minor, the deserted islands of Fourni southwest of Samos, the island of Psara, west of Chios, all functioned as pirates nests; when Napoleon put an end to the Venetian Republic in 1797, Kythira was among the islands incorporated in that most distant départment of France, called Mer-Égée. Kythira shared a common destiny with the other Ionian islands during the turbulent Napoleonic era, is still regarded as one of them. In 1799, the Ionian islands became the Septinsular Republic, nominally under Ottoman suzerainty, but in practice dominated by Russia. In 1807, France took them back only to have the British seize the islands in 1809 and set up one of their first protectorates, the United States of the Ionian Islands.
The Brit
Vehicle registration plates of Greece
Greek vehicle registration plates are composed of three letters and four digits per plate printed in black on a white background. The letters represent the district that issues the plates while the numbers begin from 1000 to 9999; as from 2004, a blue strip was added on the left showing the country code of Greece in white text and the Flag of Europe. Similar plates with digits beginning from 1 to 999 are issued for motorcycles. With the exception of Athens and Thessaloniki, all districts are represented by the first 2 letters; the final letter in the sequence changes in Greek alphabetical order after 9,000 issued plates. For example, Patras plates are ΑΧΑ-1000, where ΑΧ represents the Achaia prefecture of which Patras is the capital; when ΑΧΑ-9999 is reached the plates turn to ΑΧΒ-1000 and this continues until ΑΧΧ is finished. Only the letters from the intersection between the Latin and Greek alphabets by glyph appearance are used, namely Α, Β, Ε, Ζ, Η, Ι, Κ, Μ, Ν, Ο, Ρ, Τ, Υ, Χ; this is because Greece is a contracting party to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which in Annex 2 requires registration numbers to be displayed in capital Latin characters and Arabic numerals.
The rule applies in a similar way in Russia, Belarus and Herzegovina and Bulgaria. Combinations used for overseas residents are limited; until 2003, taxis used L-NNNN. Up until 1954 Greek number plates were quite simple: black numbers on a white background, indicating the serial number shown on the car's license; these started at 1 and advanced to 75-000 when the system was changed. The owner had to provide the plates and specifications were minimal: the size of the plates and numbers, as well as their respective colours; this meant that plates were not uniform. Taxis had to indicate the initial of the city. In 1954 it was compulsory for all vehicles to change to a new system. For just 2 years the system was L-NNNN or L-NNNNN with black characters on yellow background where L was the initial of the city they were licensed in. All these plates display "1953-54" in black characters on a white background using a smaller typeface in the top left corner; these plates were compulsorily withdrawn in 1956.
In 1956 the system was again changed to just numbers NNNNNN. NNNNNN could be any number from one to six digits starting once again with "1" and ending this time at about "451000", though not all numbers were allocated. Characters were black on white background with a blue band at the top of both front and back plates indicating city/district of registration and type of usage. After 1960 the blue band on the front plate was abandoned and hence that plate became shorter in height; this time it was not compulsory to change plates after 1972. Hence these so-called "six-figure plates" can still be spotted on a few old vehicles. In 1972, they became lettered and the system was LL-NNNN while trucks used L-NNNN. Again, they were black characters on white background but with a different typeface, it was not compulsory to change these plates. In 1982, the system changed to LLL-NNNN and the first two letters are prefecture letters. Again, it was not compulsory to change to the newer system plates in 2004. In 2004 the euroband was added to the left and the typeface changed, in all other respects the previous system continued.
The first 2 of 3 letters of a licence plate represent the prefecture where the car was registered. The full list of plates in Greece is below: ΑΑ Achaia prefecture - Patras ΑΒ Kavala prefecture - Kavala ΑΕ Lasithi prefecture - Agios Nikolaos ΑΖ Achaia prefecture - Patras ΑΗ Xanthi prefecture - Xanthi ΑΙ Aitoloakarnania prefecture - Agrinio area ΑΚ Laconia prefecture - Sparti ΑΜ Phokida prefecture - Amfissa ΑΜ tax free cars ΑΝ Lasithi prefecture - Agios Nikolaos ΑΟ Achaia prefecture - Patras AO used in Mount Athos in style of AO-NNN-NN. ΑΡ Argolis prefecture - Nafplio ΑΤ Arta prefecture - Arta AY Achaia prefecture - Patras ΑΧ Achaia prefecture - Patras ΒΑ Magnesia prefecture - Volos ΒΒ Magnesia prefecture - Volos ΒΕ Piraeus prefecture BZ Piraeus prefecture ΒΗ Piraeus prefecture ΒΙ Boeotia prefecture - Livadeia ΒΚ East Attica prefecture - Pallini ΒΜ East Attica prefecture - Pallini ΒΝ West Attica prefecture - Elefsina ΒΟ Magnesia prefecture - Volos ΒΡ West Attica prefecture - Elefsina ΒΤ Magnesia prefecture - Volos ΒΥ Boeotia prefecture - Livadeia ΒΧ Piraeus prefecture ΕΑ Dodecanese prefecture - Kos island ΕΒ Evros prefecture - Alexandroupoli ΕΕ Pella Prefecture - Edessa ΕΖ Cyclades prefecture - Ermoupoli ΕΗ Euboea prefecture - Chalkida EI Euboea prefecture - Chalki
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor and existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia during the late Byzantine Empire. Extending inland from the southeastern coast of modern Turkey, Cilicia is due north and northeast of the island of Cyprus and corresponds to the modern region of Çukurova in Turkey. Cilicia extended along the Mediterranean coast east from Pamphylia, to the Nur Mountains, which separated it from Syria. North and east of Cilicia lie the rugged Taurus Mountains that separate it from the high central plateau of Anatolia, which are pierced by a narrow gorge, called in antiquity the Cilician Gates. Ancient Cilicia was divided into Cilicia Trachaea and Cilicia Pedias by the Limonlu River. Salamis, the city on the east coast of Cyprus, was included in its administrative jurisdiction; the Greeks invented for Cilicia an eponymous Hellene founder in the purely mythical Cilix, but the historic founder of the dynasty that ruled Cilicia Pedias was Mopsus, identifiable in Phoenician sources as Mpš, the founder of Mopsuestia who gave his name to an oracle nearby.
Homer mentions the people of Mopsus, identified as Cilices, as from the Troad in the northernwesternmost part of Anatolia. The English spelling Cilicia is the same as the Latin, as it was transliterated directly from the Greek form Κιλικία; the palatalization of c occurring in the west in Vulgar Latin accounts for its modern pronunciation in English. Cilicia Trachea is a rugged mountain district formed by the spurs of Taurus, which terminate in rocky headlands with small sheltered harbors, a feature which, in classical times, made the coast a string of havens for pirates and, in the Middle Ages, outposts for Genoese and Venetian traders; the district is watered by the Calycadnus and was covered in ancient times by forests that supplied timber to Phoenicia and Egypt. Cilicia lacked large cities. Cilicia Pedias, to the east, included the rugged spurs of Taurus and a large coastal plain, with rich loamy soil, known to the Greeks such as Xenophon, who passed through with his mercenary group of the Ten Thousand, for its abundance, filled with sesame and millet and olives and pasturage for the horses imported by Solomon.
Many of its high places were fortified. The plain is watered by the three great rivers, the Cydnus, the Sarus and the Pyramus, each of which brings down much silt from the deforested interior and which fed extensive wetlands; the Sarus now enters the sea due south of Tarsus, but there are clear indications that at one period it joined the Pyramus, that the united rivers ran to the sea west of Kara-tash. Through the rich plain of Issus ran the great highway that linked east and west, on which stood the cities of Tarsus on the Cydnus, Adana on the Sarus, Mopsuestia on the Pyramus. Cilicia was settled from the Neolithic period onwards. Dating of the ancient settlements of the region from Neolithic to Bronze Age is as follows: Aceramic/Neolithic: 8th and 7th millennia BC. 5400–4500 BC. 3400 BC. The area had been known as Kizzuwatna in the earlier Hittite era; the region was divided into two parts, Uru Adaniya, a well-watered plain, "rough" Cilicia, in the mountainous west. The Cilicians appear as Hilikku in Assyrian inscriptions, in the early part of the first millennium BC were one of the four chief powers of Western Asia.
Homer mentions the plain as the "Aleian plain" in which Bellerophon wandered, but he transferred the Cilicians far to the west and north and made them allies of Troy. The Cilician cities unknown to Homer bore their pre-Greek names: Tarzu, Danuna-Adana, which retains its ancient name, Pahri and Azatiwataya. There exists evidence that circa 1650 BC both Hittite kings Hattusili I and Mursili I enjoyed freedom of movement along the Pyramus River, proving they exerted strong control over Cilicia in their battles with Syria. After the death of Murshili around 1595 BC, Hurrians wrested control from the Hitties, Cilicia was free for two centuries; the first king of free Cilicia, Išputahšu, son of Pariyawatri, was recorded as a "great king" in both cuneiform and Hittite hieroglyphs. Another record of Hittite origins, a treaty between Išputahšu and Telipinu, king of the Hittites, is recorded in both Hittite and Akkadian. In the next century, Cilician king Pilliya finalized treaties with both King Zidanta II of the Hittites and Idrimi of Alalakh, in which Idrimi mentions that he had assaulted several military targets throughout Eastern Cilicia.
Niqmepa, who succeeded Idrimi as king of Alalakh, went so far as to ask for help from a Hurrian rival, Shaushtatar of Mitanni, to try and reduce Cilicia's power in the region. It was soon apparent, that increased Hittite power would soon prove Niqmepa's efforts to be futile, as the city of Kizzuwatna soon fell to the Hittites, threatening all of Cilicia. Soon after, King Sunassura II was forced to accept vassalization under the Hittites, becoming the last king of ancient Cilicia. In the 13th century BC a major population shift occurred as the Sea Peoples overran Cilicia; the Hurrians that resided there deserted the area and moved northeast towards the Taurus Mountains, where
Kissamos
Kissamos is a town and municipality, multiple bishopric and Latin titular see in the west of the island of Crete, Greece. It is part of the Chania regional unit and of the former Kissamos Province which covers the northwest corner of the island; the city of Kissamos is known as Kastelli Kissamou and known as Kastelli after the Venetian castle, there. It is now a fishing harbour, with a regular ferry from the Peloponnese via Kythira. A town museum is located in the old Venetian governor's palace and there have been important archaeological finds in the town, including fine mosaics, dating from the Roman city of Kisamos; the head town of the municipality is Kastelli-Kissamos itself. Strabo said that ancient Cisamus was its naval arsenal; the Peutinger Table distinguishes two port towns in Crete called Cisamus, Modern Kissamos is much further west than where Aptera is now placed. It was excluded by Pashley in 1837 as being, of the two ancient maritime Cretan cities named Kisamos, the one associated with Aptera.
In the past, when the port of Aptera was thought to be present-day Kissamos, some supposed Aptera to be identical with Polyrrhenia, Kissamos to be the port of Polyrrhenia. However and other ancient sources say that Polyrrhenia's port was at Phalasarna on the west coast. Ancient Cisamus became a Christian bishopric, a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Gortyna, the capital of the Roman province of Crete. Only two of its first-millennium bishops are named in extant contemporary documents: Theopemptus, Nicetas at the Trullan Council in 692, Leo at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787; the bishopric is still a residential. After the Venetian conquest of Crete in 1212, Cisamus became a Latin Church diocese; the names of more than 20 residential Latin bishops from until the end of the 16th century are known, including: Suffragan Bishops of Kisamo... Angelo Barbarigo Bishop of Verona, Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Marcellino e Pietro Cardinal-Priest of S. Prassede in commendam (1415.07.04 – 1418.08.16... Prospero Santacroce, Apostolic Nuncio to Austria-Hungary, Apostolic Nuncio to France, Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal, again Apostolic Nuncio to France, created Cardinal-Priest of S. Girolamo degli Schiavoni, Apostolic Administrator of Arles, transferred Cardinal-Priest of S. Maria degli Angeli, Cardinal-Priest of S. Adriano al Foro pro hac vice Title, Cardinal-Priest of S. Clemente, promoted Cardinal-Bishop of Albano Apostolic Administrator Gerolamo Ragazzoni, former Coadjutor Bishop of Famagosta, Bishop of Novara, Bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Roman Catholic Diocese of Bergamo&Bergamo, Apostolic Nuncio to France No longer a residential bishopric, Cisamus is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular bishopric, since it was suppressed as residential see around 1600 AD.
It has been vacant for decades, having had the following incumbents, all of the lowest rank: Fortunato Bisleti, no office recorded Miguel Anselmo Álvarez de Abreu y Valdéz, as Auxiliary Bishop of Tlaxcala. S. Casquete Prado; the municipal unit of Kissamos includes the Gramvousa peninsula in the northwest and the adjacent Gramvousa islets, as well as the islet of Pontikonisi, the villages of Sfinari, Polirinia, Lousakia, Sirikari and Kalathena. It forms the extreme western part of the region, of Crete, it is bordered by Platanias to the East, by Kantanos-Selino to the south. The province of Kissamos was one of the provinces of the Chania Prefecture, its territory corresponded with that of the current municipality of Kissamos, the municipal units of Kolymvari and Voukolies. It
Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Aegilia". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
